JPH0825729A - Form cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To miniaturize the whole printer and to increase operability in a form cassette constituted so as to hold a fanfold form in the inside and also perform delivery thereof by a feed roller. CONSTITUTION:A form cassette is constituted so as to be fitted to a printer provided with a feed roller 21. The form cassette is equipped with a holding casing 23 which holds a fanfold form 12 fed by the feed roller 21 in a folded state and with a feed port 26 for feeding the fanfold form to the printer 11. A roller-fitting part 25 is provided in the position opposite to the fanfold form 12 being in a holding state in the housing casing 23. The feed roller 21 is fitted to the roller-fitting part 25.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper cassette, and more particularly to a paper cassette configured to store fan-hold paper inside and to take out the fan-hold paper by a pay-out roller.

[0002] In recent years, with the development of portable terminals for electronic equipment and communication equipment, there is an increasing demand for a printing apparatus which can carry out a printing process at a portable terminal, and various miniaturized printing apparatuses are available to meet this demand. It is provided.

A portable printer of this type is roughly composed of a printer main body and a paper cassette, and the paper cassette is removable from the printer main body.

As described above, the portable printing device is required to be miniaturized because it is carried around and carried, and therefore the paper cassette is also demanded to be miniaturized.

Further, since the portable printing apparatus uses a dry battery as a power source, it is desired to reduce power consumption, and accordingly, a paper cassette having a structure capable of feeding paper with a small load is desired. .

[0006]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 shows an example of a conventional paper cassette. The paper cassette 1 shown in the figure is installed in the printing device 2 (only the outer shape is shown by a broken line), and is configured to include a housing 3 and a feeding port 4 for feeding the paper.

The housing 3 has a fan hold paper 5 inside.
To store. Here, the fan-hold paper 5 has a structure in which relatively thick paper is continuous and has perforations provided at predetermined intervals and is bent at the position where the perforations are provided. ing. Further, each part defined by the perforations is a billing slip (hereinafter referred to as a single slip) issued at the time of collecting electricity charges, and the fan hold paper 5 fed from the paper cassette 1 is The predetermined items are printed on the single cut sheet by the printing device 2 and then cut off at the perforations to be delivered to the customer.

Therefore, in order to print on the fan hold paper 5, it is necessary to feed the fan hold paper 5 from the paper cassette 1.

Conventionally, as a structure for feeding the fan hold paper 5 from the paper cassette 1, the feed rollers 6 and 7 provided in the printer 2 are used, and the fan hold paper 5 is placed between the pair of feed rollers 6 and 7. The fan-hold paper 5 is fed from the feeding port 4 of the paper cassette 1 toward the printer 2 by rotating the feeding rollers 6 and 7.

[0010]

However, in the conventional construction, the feeding rollers 6 and 7 are disposed outside the sheet cassette 1 at positions separated from each other, so that the first portion of the fan-hold sheet 5 is preliminarily set to a predetermined unit. When the paper cassette 1 is attached to the printer 2 by making it longer than the length of the bill (this lengthened portion is indicated by an arrow L in FIG. 7), the front end of the fan-hold paper 5 which is lengthened is manually operated. It was carried out by pinching with and guiding to the delivery rollers 6 and 7.

Therefore, in the conventional structure, the feeding rollers 6 and 7 are arranged outside the sheet cassette 1 at positions separated from each other, so that the entire size of the printing apparatus (printing apparatus 2
There is a problem that the size including the paper cassette 1) becomes large. Also, fan hold paper 5
In the first part of the above, it is necessary to make it longer than the predetermined length of the cut sheet, and there is a problem that the formation of the fan hold paper 5 is troublesome.

When the paper cassette 1 is attached to the printing device 2, the operator has to manually pinch the leading end of the fan hold paper 5 to guide it to the feeding rollers 6 and 7.
There was a problem that the operation at the time of wearing was troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a paper cassette which can be downsized and improved in operability as a whole printing apparatus.

[0014]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The above problems can be solved by taking the following measures.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is configured to be mounted on a sheet feeding device provided with a feeding roller, and a storage housing for storing the fan hold sheet fed by the feeding roller in a folded state. A roller in which the feeding roller is mounted at a position facing the fan-hold sheet in the storage state of the storage housing, in a sheet cassette including a feeding port for feeding the fan-hold sheet toward the printer. It is characterized in that a mounting portion is provided.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a cover is provided on the housing case, and the cover and the housing case work together to hold the fan-hold paper fed at the feeding port, thereby forming a fan-hold paper. It is characterized in that a frictional load is applied.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a roller member is provided on the cover, and the roller member is pressed against the fan-hold sheet to apply a friction load to the fan-hold sheet. Is.

Further, in the invention of claim 4, the feeding roller is arranged at a portion which comes into contact with the fold of the folded fan-hold sheet when the fan-hold sheet is fed, and the fan-holding is performed by the rotation of the feeding roller. It is characterized in that the fold line of the sheet is urged and the fan hold sheet is fed out.

[0019]

The above-mentioned means operate as follows.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by providing the roller mounting portion for mounting the delivery roller at a position facing the fan-hold sheet in the storage state of the storage housing, the delivery roller has the storage housing. Since it is located inside the body, it is possible to reduce the size of the printing apparatus in which the paper cassette is mounted.

Further, since the feed roller can be held by the feeding roller without lengthening the first portion of the fan-hold paper, it is not necessary to lengthen the first portion of the fan-hold paper, which facilitates the manufacture of the fan-hold paper. Become. Further, unlike the conventional case, the operation of pulling out the first part of the fan hold paper from the paper cassette for a long time and holding it by the feeding roller is not necessary, and the operability at the time of mounting the paper cassette can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a cover is provided on the storage housing, and the cover and the storage housing cooperate to hold the fan hold paper fed out at the feed-out port to form a fan hold paper. By adopting a configuration in which a frictional load is applied, it is possible to prevent the fan-hold paper from returning.

That is, since the fan-hold paper is stored in the storage housing in a state of being bent at the formed perforations, a force (restoring force) for returning to the original storage state acts when being fed out. To do. Therefore, in the configuration in which the delivery port is loosely fitted to the fan-hold sheet, the fan-hold sheet may return to the storage housing before the fan-hold sheet is held by the delivery roller.

However, since the cover is used to apply a frictional load to the fan-hold paper, the fan-hold paper can be prevented from returning even before the fan-hold paper is held by the delivery roller. .

Further, according to the invention of claim 3, the cover is provided with a roller member, and the roller member is pressed against the fan-hold paper to apply a frictional load to the fan-hold paper. Similar to the action of 2, the frictional load can be applied to the fan hold paper, and the fan hold paper can be prevented from returning.

Further, according to the invention of claim 4, the feeding roller is arranged at a portion which comes into contact with the fold of the fan-hold sheet bent when the fan-hold sheet is fed, and the fan-hold sheet is rotated by the rotation of the feeding roller. Since the fan hold sheet is drawn out by urging the fold line, the fan hold sheet can be drawn out smoothly with a low load.

[0027]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a printer 11 in which the paper cassette 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is mounted. The printing device 11 is a device for feeding out the fan hold paper 12 stored in the paper cassette 10 from the paper cassette 10 and performing predetermined printing. In the present embodiment, the portable printing device 11 having a small size is shown as an example.

The printer 11 includes a printer mechanism unit 14 and a paper feeding mechanism unit 1 in a housing 13 (shown in satin).
5, the cassette storage section 16, and an input mechanism section (switch or the like) (not shown), a display section, a battery storage section, and the like.

The printer mechanism section 14 includes the paper cassette 10.
The print processing is performed on the fan-hold paper 12 fed from the printer, for example, the thermal head 17 for printing.
And the platen roller 18 and the like. The fan hold paper 12 runs while being interposed between the thermal head 17 and the platen roller 18, and a predetermined printing process is performed during this running. An ink ribbon is provided between the thermal head 17 and the fan hold paper 12, but the ink ribbon is not shown.

Further, the paper feeding mechanism unit 15 carries out a process of feeding the fan hold paper 12 from the paper cassette 10 and feeding the fan hold paper 12 to the printer mechanism unit 14 described above. This paper feeding mechanism 1
Reference numeral 5 includes a motor 19, a speed reduction unit 20, a delivery roller 21, and the like.

The motor 19 serves as a drive source for the paper feeding mechanism 15, and the output shaft of the motor 19 is connected to the speed reduction unit 20. This reduction unit 20
Reduces the rotation of the motor 19 to a predetermined rotation speed and then transmits the rotation to the shaft 22. A plurality of (two in this embodiment) delivery rollers 21 are arranged on the shaft 22, and the delivery rollers 21 are attached so as to rotate integrally with the shaft 22.
Therefore, when the motor 19 is rotationally driven, this rotational driving force is decelerated by the deceleration unit 20 and then transmitted to the shaft 22, so that the payout roller 21 is rotated.

The cassette housing portion 16 is a portion for housing the paper cassette 10, and FIG. 2 shows a state in which the paper cassette 10 is mounted in the cassette housing portion 16.

Next, the paper cassette 10 will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the paper cassette 10. The paper cassette 10 is made of, for example, a hard resin, and roughly includes a storage housing 23 having a bottomed rectangular shape in which the fan hold paper 12 is stored, and a cover 24 that closes an upper opening of the storage housing 23. The roller mounting portion 25 to which the above-mentioned feeding roller 21 is mounted, and the feeding port 2 formed at the feeding position of the fan hold paper 12
It is composed of 6 and the like.

As described above, the fan hold paper 12
Is provided with perforations at predetermined intervals and is bent at the position where the perforations are provided. The housing 23 has a shape capable of housing the fan hold paper 12 in a folded state.

It should be noted that the storage housing 23 has a shape slightly larger than the shape of the folded fan-hold paper 12 (that is, the shape of a single sheet) (that is, fan-hold paper because of the miniaturization of the paper cassette 10). The smallest shape that can accommodate 12).

The cover 24 closes the upper opening of the housing 23 as described above, and the hinge 27
Is rotatably attached to the storage housing 23.
The cover 24 is opened when the fan hold paper 12 is stored in the storage housing 23. Further, as will be described later, the cover 24 cooperates with the storage housing 23 to form the delivery port 26.

The roller mounting portion 25 is an essential part of this embodiment, and the feeding roller 21 constituting the paper feeding mechanism portion 15 is mounted therein. As described above, the feeding roller 21 is disposed in the printing device 11, and by mounting the paper cassette 10 in the printing device 11,
The delivery roller 21 is located in the roller mounting portion 25 formed on the paper cassette 10. FIG. 1A shows a state in which the paper cassette 10 is attached to the printing device 11, and FIG. 1B shows a state in which the paper cassette 10 is not attached to the printing device 11.

The roller mounting portion 25 is formed integrally with the housing case 23, and the position where the roller mounting portion 25 is formed is selected so as to face the fan hold paper 12 stored in the housing case 23. As described above, the storage housing 23
From the viewpoint of downsizing the paper cassette 10, it has a minimum shape capable of storing the folded fan-hold paper 12. Therefore, by forming the roller mounting portion 25 at a position facing the fan hold paper 12 that is stored in the storage housing 23, the roller mounting portion 2 is formed.
The structure 5 is located inside the housing 23.

As described above, the housing 3 and the feeding rollers 6 and 7 (see FIG. 7), which are conventionally arranged separately in the printer.
In the present embodiment, since the feeding roller 21 can be positioned in the roller mounting portion 25 formed inside the housing 23, the size of the printer 11 as a whole can be reduced. it can.

The roller mounting portion 25 formed at the above position
An opening 28 is formed in the upper part of the so that the feeding roller 21 is exposed from the opening 28 when the cover 24 is opened.

Further, the feeding port 26 is formed on the upper part of the roller mounting portion 25, and the feeding port 26 is formed.
Then, the fan hold paper 12 is fed toward the printer mechanism unit 14. The feeding port 26 is provided in the storage housing 23.
It is an opening formed between (specifically, the upper part of the roller mounting portion 25) and the cover 24. The formation position is selected at the upper position of the left end portion (indicated by arrow A in the figure) of the folded fan hold paper 12 in FIG.

Subsequently, the paper cassette 1 having the above-mentioned configuration
A mounting operation for mounting 0 on the printing device 11 will be described.

In order to mount the paper cassette 10 on the printing apparatus 11, first, the cover 24 is opened and the fan hold paper 12 is mounted on the housing case 23 in a folded state. Then, the front end of the fan hold paper 12 is pinched by hand, and the cover 24 is closed after the front end is extended to such an extent that it can be caught in the delivery port 26.

At this time, as described above, the position where the feeding port 26 is formed is selected at the upper position of the left end portion (shown by the arrow A in the figure) of the folded fan hold paper 12. Therefore, in the paper cassette 10 according to the present embodiment,
The first end of the fan hold paper 12 can be held by the feeding roller 21 without lengthening the first part of the fan hold paper 12.

Therefore, unlike the conventional case, it is not necessary to lengthen the initial portion of the fan hold paper 12, and the fan hold paper 12 can be easily manufactured. Further, as in the conventional case, the first portion of the fan hold paper 12 is pulled out from the paper cassette 10 for a long time, and the feeding roller 21 is used.
The operation of holding the paper cassette 10 is also unnecessary, and the operability when the paper cassette 10 is mounted can be improved.

Further, in this embodiment, the cover 24 and the storage housing 23 cooperate with each other by closing the cover 24, so that the fan hold sheet 1 fed out at the feeding port 26.
2 is configured to be sandwiched, and in this sandwiched state, the cover 24 and the storage housing 23 are provided with the fan hold paper 12
It is configured to apply a frictional load to the. This frictional load is applied as a holding force for holding the fan hold paper 12 between the cover 24 and the storage housing 23.

Therefore, even if the restoring force for returning the fan-holding paper 12 to the original stored state is applied when the fan-holding paper 12 is fed out, the holding force can prevent the fan-holding paper 12 from returning, so that the fan is prevented from returning. Even before the hold paper 12 is held by the feeding roller 21, that is, before the paper cassette 10 is attached to the printing apparatus, the fan hold paper can be prevented from returning.

When the fan hold paper 12 is loaded into the paper cassette 10 as described above, the paper cassette 10 is then loaded into the cassette housing 16 in the printer 11. As a result, the pay-out roller 21 is attached to the roller mounting portion 2
5 and is in contact with the fan hold paper 12 through the opening 28 formed in the upper part of the roller mounting portion 25.

In this state, when the sheet feeding mechanism 15 is driven to rotate the feeding roller 21, the feeding roller 21 is in contact with the fan hold sheet 12 through the opening 28, so that the fan hold sheet 12 is The paper is delivered from the delivery port 26 toward the printer mechanism unit 14.

FIG. 3 shows a paper cassette 30 which is a second embodiment of the present invention.

In each of the embodiments described below, FIG.
Also, the same components as those of the paper cassette 10 according to the first embodiment described with reference to FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the paper cassette 10 according to the first embodiment,
In order to prevent the fan-hold sheet 12 from returning, the fan-hold sheet 12 is sandwiched between the storage housing 23 and the cover 24 at the feeding port 26 to apply a frictional load. In this embodiment, a pad 31 is provided on the cover 24, and the pad 3 is provided when the cover 24 is closed.
It is characterized in that a frictional load is applied by the contact of 1 with the fan hold paper 12.
As a material of the pad 31, it is possible to use a felt material having a predetermined friction coefficient.

As in this embodiment, the pad 24 is attached to the cover 24.
1 is provided, and this pad 31 is used as the fan hold paper 12
In the configuration in which a frictional load is applied by abutting against,
The friction load applied to the fan hold paper 12 can be easily adjusted, and even when the friction load deteriorates with time, it can be easily replaced.

FIG. 4 shows a paper cassette 40 which is a second embodiment of the present invention.

In the present embodiment, the cover 24 is provided with the pinch roller 41, and when the cover 24 is closed, the pinch roller 41 comes into contact with the fan hold paper 12 to apply a frictional load. It is a feature. The pinch roller 41 is configured to rotate only in the direction of arrow B in the drawing, and is configured to be unable to rotate (lock) in the opposite direction. Therefore,
The paper cassette 40 according to this embodiment can also prevent the fan-hold paper 12 from returning. As shown in FIG. 5, the pinch roller 41 may be arranged at a position directly above the feeding roller 21 so that the fan hold paper 12 runs between the feeding roller 21 and the pinch roller 41. Good.

FIG. 6 shows a paper cassette 50 according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

In the paper cassette 50 according to this embodiment, a side opening 51 (shown by a broken line) is formed in the side of the roller mounting portion 25, and the side of the feeding roller 21 is also in the paper cassette 5.
It is characterized in that it is configured to be exposed to the inside of 0. The formation position of the side opening 51 is selected as a portion that comes into contact with the fold line (shown by arrow A) of the fan hold sheet 12 that is bent when the fan hold sheet 12 is fed. Therefore, the fan hold paper 12 is fed out, and the fold A is fed out by the feeding roller 2
When it comes into contact with the side of No. 1, the fold A of the fan hold sheet 21 is urged by the rotation of the feeding roller 21 and is urged upward.

As described above, since the fan hold paper 12 is folded and stored in the storage housing 23, a large load is generated when the portion of the fold line A is extended as it is fed out. In particular, in the configuration in which the roller mounting portion 25 projects inside the housing case 23 as in this embodiment, this load becomes large.

The feeding roller 21 needs to overcome this load to feed the fan-hold paper 12, and the output of the paper feeding mechanism 15 is set to an output that can handle this load. However, as described above, when the printing device 11 is portable, the motor 19 also needs to be downsized, and it is necessary to reduce the power consumption in order to prolong the time that it can be carried and used. There is a limit to improving the output of the feeding mechanism unit 15.

In this embodiment, the fold A of the fan-hold paper 21 is urged by the rotation of the feeding roller 21 to urge the fold A upward so that the load for extending the portion of the fold A can be smoothly reduced. It is characterized by doing so. With this configuration, the motor 19 can be downsized, and the power consumption can be reduced, so that the time for carrying and use can be extended.

[0063]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following various effects can be realized.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the feeding roller is located inside the housing, so that the printing apparatus in which the paper cassette is mounted can be downsized. Further, since it is not necessary to lengthen the initial portion of the fan hold paper, the fan hold paper can be easily manufactured. Further, unlike the conventional case, the operation of pulling out the first part of the fan hold paper from the paper cassette for a long time and holding it by the feeding roller is not necessary, and the operability at the time of mounting the paper cassette can be improved.

According to the second and third aspects of the present invention, the fan-hold sheet is provided with a frictional load, so that the fan-hold sheet is held even before the fan-hold sheet is held by the feeding roller. It is possible to prevent the return.

Further, according to the invention of claim 4, the fan-holding paper can be smoothly fed out with a low load, and the paper-feeding mechanism portion for feeding out the fan-holding paper can be saved in power and downsized. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a paper cassette that is a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a printing apparatus in which a paper cassette according to the first embodiment of the present invention is mounted.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a paper cassette that is a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a paper cassette that is a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a modified example of the paper cassette shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a paper cassette that is a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional paper cassette.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 30, 40, 50 Paper cassette 11 Printing device 12 Fan hold paper 13 Housing 14 Printer mechanism section 15 Paper feeding mechanism section 19 Motor 21 Feeding roller 23 Storage housing 24 Cover 25 Roller mounting section 26 Feeding port 31 Pad material 41 Pinch Roller 51 side opening

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A storage housing, which is configured to be mounted on a printing device provided with a feeding roller, and stores a fan hold sheet fed by the feeding roller in a folded state, and the fan hold sheet. In a paper cassette having a feeding port that feeds toward the printing device, a roller mounting portion to which the feeding roller is mounted is provided at a position facing the fan hold paper in the storage state of the storage housing. A paper cassette characterized by being provided. 2. A friction load is applied to the fan-hold paper by providing a cover on the housing and holding the fan-hold paper fed out at the feeding port in cooperation with the cover and the housing. The paper cassette according to claim 1, wherein the paper cassette has a configuration. 3. The sheet according to claim 2, wherein the cover is provided with a roller member, and the roller member is pressed against the fan-hold sheet to apply a frictional load to the fan-hold sheet. cassette. 4. The feeding roller is arranged at a portion which comes into contact with a fold of the folded fan-hold sheet when the fan-hold sheet is fed, and the fold of the fan-hold sheet is rotated by the rotation of the feeding roller. 4. The paper cassette according to claim 1, wherein the fan-hold paper is fed out by being biased.